


i love the way we fit (together)

by orphan_account



Category: UNINE (Band), 青春有你 | Qing Chun You Ni
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, and they're together!, shi zhan is.. a doctor, zhenning lives in a small village
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 10:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20133724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "name?" the nurse asks."li zhenning," he says easily. she nods, writing the first character, before looking up shyly, cheeks still red. "which characters are the last two?""i'll write it for you," zhenning offers, taking the pen from her and doing so. when he gives it back, their fingers touch, and she jolts, dropping the pen before laughing nervously."sorry," she apologizes, picking the pen up from the ground. "birthday?""november 5th," a new voice cuts in sharply. "1995."zhenning looks up.there shi zhan is, sleeves slightly rolled up and coat fluttering slightly. lips turned slightly downward, he crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. "i'll take it from here."





	i love the way we fit (together)

it's six in the morning when zhenning is called awake by a soft touch on his shoulder. he blinks tiredly, his mother swimming into focus between his eyelids. pushing himself up and carefully extricating himself from between his brother and sister, he follows her outside.

"what is it," he says quietly, once they've closed the door. the sun has just begun to rise, and he shivers despite the weak rays of light crawling across the ground.

"the air conditioning for the visiting room is broken," she replies, wringing her hands. "government leaders are supposed to arrive today to check on our village. secretary zhao came over herself to ask if you could try to fix it."

"that's today?" zhenning blinks, surprised. "when are they supposed to arrive?"

"in two hours," she says. "you can ride my bike there - walking will take too long."

"how will you all get there if i take the bike?" zhenning asks, frowning, but he heads over to the rusted tap in their yard. when he twists it, a steady stream of water flows out, and he splashes some on his face.

"we'll ask one of the neighbors for a ride," his mother replies easily, waving her hand dismissively. "don't worry about us. wash up quickly, then go, okay?"

zhenning nods, though the movement is hidden by the distance. "okay," he calls out, wiping his hands on his pants. he watches his mother walk back in their house - a tiny, three-roomed section of a larger complex - before heading to her bike and unlocking it.

swinging one leg over the seat, he settles easily in position and turns onto the dirt road, pedaling south towards the front of their village.

fifteen minutes later, the road turns from dirt to pebbles, and zhenning slows the bike before hopping off. pushing it to the side of the main gate, he locks it alongside the other bike there.

by now, the sun has fully risen, and zhenning can feel the heat creeping in now that he no longer feels the wind from bike-riding. it's going to be a hot day, he thinks. trust the air conditioning to break only on the most important day of the summer.

"zhenning," secretary zhao calls out, spotting him from the window of the meeting room. she hurries out. "oh, thank goodness you're here. let me show you to the back."

"of course," zhenning says, following her around to the back of the building. "you're up so early."

she gives him a wry smile. "and it's a good thing i am, too," she replies. "imagine the party representative arriving to a village without air conditioning - we'd really be in for a long meeting."

zhenning snorts. "rising out of poverty," he says, repeating the slogan pasted on every poster on every wall. imitating the party representative, he carries on. "and yet there's no working air conditioning system in the visiting room? what a shame. how could you let this happen to the people?"

"zhenning!" secretary zhao reprimands, but she's smiling in spite of her words. her footsteps slow, and zhenning looks at the control box on the wall, along with a mass of wires. "well," she says. "we're here."

zhenning heaves a sigh, hands coming up to feel the wires.

"you can count on me, mrs. zhao," he says, managing a smile when he turns to look at her. "i'll have someone let you know when i'm done."

"and i'll let everyone know it was zhenning who saved the day," secretary zhao replies, smiling back at zhenning as she begins to walk back. "thank you, as always!"

an hour and a half later finds zhenning sweaty and panting as he lies underneath the control box. gritting his teeth, he pinches a strip of metal no thicker than his fingers as he shoves a switch upwards. he lies in wait, listening for the telltale hum of air conditioning.

when he hears it, along with a few cheers from the front of the building, he closes his eyes in tired triumph. just thirty seconds, he thinks to himself. thirty seconds to rest.

suddenly, he hears a shriek from right above him, and he barely manages to avoid jerking up into the control box. 

"zhenning!" his sister yells. she kicks his leg lightly. "get up! i have news!"

zhenning slaps an arm over his eyes. "i worked on the air conditioning for over an hour," he shouts back. "let me rest for two seconds, okay?"

"trust me," she says. "you want to hear this."

zhenning groans, pulling himself out from underneath the control box as she continues.

"you know how we're welcoming party representative zhang to our village today, right?" she says. "guess what she did."

"what?" zhenning says, brushing his pants off. sweat glistens on his collarbones, and he makes a halfhearted attempt to dust his shirt off too.

"you didn't even guess," his sister pouts. "okay, whatever. i'll just tell you. she said she brought a team from the city's hospital here today to give us free checkups as some part of her leadership plan to improve the general health of the village."

zhenning looks up, mouth parting in surprise. "the city hospital?" he repeats slowly.

his sister grins. "that's the part that got you interested, huh?" she says. "yeah. their team's already here."

the sun beats down on them, but zhenning feels a different kind of heat rising slowly to his cheeks. "do you think-" he starts, swallowing a little. his mouth is suddenly dry, and he licks his lips before continuing. "do you know if...?"

"why don't you go find out?" his sister replies, but the knowing tone in her voice gives it away. zhenning huffs a laugh before starting his way back to the front of the building.

"better hurry before all the other girls try to get his attention!" she yells, voice fading away as he breaks into a jog, leaving her behind. "you're welcome, by the way!"

"next," someone calls, and elderly mrs. guan shuffles forward towards the available nurse. behind her is the crowd of villagers lined up to get their medical checkups, some with more serious ailments than others. all the young, teenage girls huddle closer together though, pointing and whispering at the medical team. every so often, they catch the attention of a certain doctor, who just smiles and continues doing his job, and the girls all break out into nervous giggles

zhenning arrives behind the crowd, panting slightly as he gets in line. craning his neck, he catches a glimpse of the medical team at the front, and catches an unmistakable black flop of hair in the front.

he looks down, heart racing in his chest. biting his lip, he looks at all the girls in front of him, and groans inwardly. resigning himself to not only being at the end of the line, but also having to watch all the girls fawn and stutter in front of a certain doctor, he stretches his arms and settles in for the wait.

"crowd's dying down," the lead doctor comments to the medical team. "only a few villagers left, and we're all free for lunch. let's finish strong, everyone!"

zhenning watches the line in front of him dwindle to just a few people. close to two hours now, and the center of his attention remains beautifully oblivious to his presence. if he would just look up, zhenning thinks, but he remains ever-so dedicated to the villager in front of him. so close, he sighs wistfully, yet so far.

an eternity seems to pass before it's his turn to check in.

"hi!" the nurse at the front says, finishing up paperwork from her previous patient. "i'll take you right here, since you're the last one."

zhenning obliges, sitting down with another glance over towards the back of the tent. when he looks back, the nurse is staring at his face. 

"wow," she whispers audibly.

zhenning's startled laughter snaps the nurse's attention back, and she blushes. "i'm so sorry about that," she stutters, shaking her head and grabbing her clipboard. "you're just- really attractive."

"thank you," zhenning says, smiling bemusedly. she must be new, he thinks, but he holds his tongue.

in front of him, the other patient leaves, leaving zhenning as the last villager left. the rest of the doctors begin to disperse, save the one currently making his way across the tent.

"name?" the nurse asks.

"li zhenning," he says easily. she nods, writing the first character, before looking up shyly, cheeks still red. "which characters are the last two?"

"i'll write it for you," zhenning offers, taking the pen from her and doing so. when he gives it back, their fingers touch, and she jolts, dropping the pen before laughing nervously.

"sorry," she apologizes, picking the pen up from the ground. "birthday?"

"november 5th," a new voice cuts in sharply. "1995."

zhenning looks up.

there shi zhan is, sleeves slightly rolled up and coat fluttering slightly. lips turned slightly downward, he crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. "i'll take it from here."

"director shi," the nurse says, standing hurriedly. she looks between the two of them. "of course."

shi zhan sits down across from zhenning then, taking the clipboard and filling in the rest of zhenning's basic information from memory. "i'll write it for you," shi zhan repeats under his breath. he looks up at zhenning then, putting the paperwork down on another chair. "seriously?"

"i was just being helpful," zhenning pouts. "it's not like i held her hand and traced it out for her." he leans in, reaching across to grasp shi zhan's hands. turning his palm, he links their fingers together and blinks innocently. "i wouldn't do that. i have a boyfriend, you know."

"do you," shi zhan says flatly, but his mouth curls up in a smile. "what a shame. do you think he'd mind if i asked you out to lunch?"

zhenning tilts his head. "probably," he admits, and shi zhan laughs, tugging him closer. "he gets jealous."

shi zhan blinks slow - once, then again, eyelashes brushing against zhenning's cheeks. "does he," he murmurs, before leaning in and brushing their lips together. zhenning closes his eyes and shuffles closer, sighing into the kiss. the moment stretches long and sticky with the heat of the summer, and when they break apart, zhenning's panting slightly.

"aren't you supposed to be taking my measurements?" he asks, poking shi zhan's chest. shi zhan laughs and places a hand over zhenning's chest.

"your heart's beating so fast," he says, sounding pleased with himself. "we'll have to wait a few minutes for it to get back to normal."

"and whose fault is that," zhenning grumbles, but his eyes are soft when he tilts his head and leans up for another kiss.

"as a doctor, i'm obligated to tell you that you're as healthy as always," shi zhan says, clicking his pen shut. "and that a healthy amount of exercise will benefit your long-term health."

zhenning blinks. "but...?"

shi zhan shrugs his coat off, draping it across the back of his chair. leaning back in his seat, he cocks his head and looks at zhenning.

"but as your boyfriend," he says, raising an eyebrow mischievously, "i'm going to have to ask you leave some of that energy for me."

much, much later, zhenning curls up next to shi zhan, head propped on his shoulder. 

"why didn't you tell me you were coming today?" he asks tiredly, eyes closed and arms wrapped around shi zhan's shoulders.

"not happy to see me?" shi zhan teases, dropping a kiss on zhenning's forehead.

zhenning weakly bats in the direction of shi zhan's face. "you know that's not what i meant," he grumbles cutely. "of course i'm happy to see you."

"mm," shi zhan hums. "i'm just kidding." fingers brushing through zhenning's hair, he continues.

"i didn't even know i was coming until early today," he says. "got a call at five in the morning from one of my nurses saying there was some trip the hospital director herself was going to be attending for the first few hours. at first i was annoyed it was so last minute, of course." shi zhan shrugs. "but then i found out which village we were going to and i couldn't sign up fast enough."

zhenning snuggles closer, blinking his eyes open at shi zhan. "i love you," he says easily, the words as familiar as his own name. arching his neck, he reaches upwards, lips barely brushing shi zhan's. when shi zhan closes his eyes and leans down, zhenning ducks away, giggling when shi zhan misses.

"tease," shi zhan growls, grabbing zhenning's wrists and flipping them over, pinning zhenning's body underneath his own. zhenning doesn't even get a chance to respond before shi zhan devours his lips, tongue curling in a way that makes him see stars. zhenning whines, fingers curling in shi zhan's hair.

"don't," he says weakly, but his body rises, unbidden, already instinctively responding. he winces, breaking apart from the kiss to bury his head in shi zhan's shoulder. 

"i'm still sore," he whispers helplessly into shi zhan's ear, blushing.

"don't worry," shi zhan says, pulling back and breathing unsteadily. "i won't."

he raises a hand to cup zhenning's chin and looks at him for what feels like an eternity, before cracking into a grin.

"you have no idea how good you look right now," he says, shaking his head ruefully and sitting up, gathering zhenning into his lap. hands on zhenning's back, he presses down gently, massaging the sensitive muscles there. zhenning's mouth falls open, panting slightly as shi zhan works open a knot of muscle. he moans quietly, and shi zhan's eyes darken, but his hands stay steady, fingers digging into his skin and moving in a circular motion.

when he's done, zhenning's loose-limbed and relaxed like a puddle of water in his lap, comfortable and content. reaching down to press their foreheads together, shi zhan's eyes soften when they meet zhenning's. "i love you too," he whispers, and zhenning clutches tighter onto his back, their bodies slotting perfectly together.

outside, the late-afternoon sun beats down on the earth. down the dirt road and a few kilometers away, the other villagers laugh and mingle in the air-conditioned complex, greeting the government leaders and thanking the medical team for coming. here, there's nothing but a slight breeze that ruffles shi zhan's hair and sends a flew strands floating in the air. soon, the medical team will return to the hospital in the city, where there's constant air conditioning and smooth, polished white-tile floors.

but as he holds zhenning close, shi zhan thinks that he could almost trade a lifetime in the hospital just for one second longer in the village. the invisible clock counts down to their inevitable separation, and he closes his eyes, memorizing the way they fit together.

zhenning shifts in his hold. "next time, i'll come to you," he murmurs, voice soft and vulnerable. "when i have enough to make it in the city. promise you'll wait for me until then?"

shi zhan's heart clenches. uncurling one hand, he finds zhenning's, locking their pinkies together. 

on his shoulder, he can feel the corners of zhenning's mouth turn up - a mirror image of his own smile.

"always," he breathes. "i'll be waiting."

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably the closest i will ever get to writing their "exercise" activities #-# ... (you can use your imagination to fill in what they were doing..)
> 
> well, now we're onto the longer drafts! hopefully it won't take me another two months to finish TT


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